1.
Chasseurs d'Afrique
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The Chasseurs dAfrique were a light cavalry corps of chasseurs in the French Armée dAfrique. First raised in the 1830s from regular French cavalry posted to Algeria, for most of their history they were recruited from either French volunteers or French settlers in North Africa doing their military service. As such they were the equivalent of the French Zouave infantry. The other major element in the Armee dAfrique were the Spahis—recruited from the indigenous peoples of Algeria, Tunisia. In addition to campaigns in North Africa, these colorful regiments also served in the Crimean War, Franco-Prussian War, Indochina, Frances invasion of Mexico. DAf. distinguished themselves by securing the flank of Lord Cardigan during the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade, on this and other occasions they used their characteristic African tactic of advancing rapidly in open order, in contrast to the rigid lines of the Light Brigade. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, six regiments of Chasseurs dAfrique were in existence, the 1er and 2e RCA had detached squadrons on active service in eastern Morocco while the four remaining regiments were on garrison duty in Algeria and Tunisia. Seven regiments of Chasseurs dAfrique were transferred to France between 1914 and 1918, the 1er and 4e RCA ended the war in the Middle East fighting against the Turks, while the 5e RCA detached squadrons to serve in the Balkans. In 1933 the regiments de chasseurs dAfrique began the process of conversion to mechanised units, the first vehicles adopted were White TBC armoured cars, followed by White-Laffly 50 AMs. Both models were obsolete for European warfare but suitable for colonial campaigning, other vehicles were provided for individual squadrons and in 1939 Hotchkiss H35 and H39 light tanks were received by the 1er RCA. In 1941, 6e and 7e RCA were created in the Levant, both were involved in heavy fighting against Allied forces in 1941 Operation Exporter, equipped with 90 tanks and a similar number of armoured cars. In the course of World War II the process of mechanisation was completed, the 3e and 5e RCA were equipped with M4 Sherman and M5 light tanks. The 5e RCA notably landed in Provence in August 1944, and was one of the first units to be operational for combat. It was engaged in battles during the taking of Toulon, in the Rhone valley, through Burgundy, Alsace. The regiment earned the Rhine and Danube badge, algerian independence brought an end to the corps through a series of disbandments and transfers between 1962 and 1964, after over a century of service. However one regiment was re-established in 1998 to preserve the traditions of this famous cavalry, the modern regiment is one of the mechanised units of the French Army. It is divided into one squadron and three combat squadrons and is equipped with approximately 45 armoured vehicles. The Chasseurs dAfrique were until 1914 clothed in light blue tunics tucked into a red sash, prior to 1873 the casquette dAfrique had been worn
2.
Tunisia
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Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia is the northernmost country in Africa, covering 165,000 square kilometres. Its northernmost point, Cape Angela, is the northernmost point on the African continent and it is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisias population was estimated to be just under 11 million in 2014, Tunisias name is derived from its capital city, Tunis, which is located on Tunisias northeast coast. Geographically, Tunisia contains the end of the Atlas Mountains. Much of the rest of the land is fertile soil. Tunisia is a unitary semi-presidential representative democratic republic and it is considered to be the only full democracy in the Arab World. It has a human development index. In addition, Tunisia is also a state of the United Nations. Close relations with Europe – in particular with France and with Italy – have been forged through economic cooperation, privatisation, in ancient times, Tunisia was primarily inhabited by Berbers. Phoenician immigration began in the 12th century BC, these immigrants founded Carthage, a major mercantile power and a military rival of the Roman Republic, Carthage was defeated by the Romans in 146 BC. The Romans, who would occupy Tunisia for most of the eight hundred years, introduced Christianity. After several attempts starting in 647, the Arabs conquered the whole of Tunisia by 697, the Ottomans held sway for over three hundred years. The French colonization of Tunisia occurred in 1881, Tunisia gained independence with Habib Bourguiba and declared the Tunisian Republic in 1957. In 2011, the Tunisian Revolution resulted in the overthrow of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the country voted for parliament again on 26 October 2014, and for President on 23 November 2014. The word Tunisia is derived from Tunis, an urban hub. The present form of the name, with its Latinate suffix -ia, the French derivative Tunisie was adopted in some European languages with slight modifications, introducing a distinctive name to designate the country. Other languages remained untouched, such as the Russian Туни́с and Spanish Túnez, in this case, the same name is used for both country and city, as with the Arabic تونس, and only by context can one tell the difference. The name Tunis can be attributed to different origins and it is generally associated with the Berber root ⵜⵏⵙ, transcribed tns, which means to lay down or encampment
3.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
4.
French Third Republic
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It came to an end on 10 July 1940. Harsh reparations exacted by the Prussians after the war resulted in the loss of the French regions of Alsace and Lorraine, social upheaval, and the establishment of the Paris Commune. The early governments of the Third Republic considered re-establishing the monarchy, but confusion as to the nature of that monarchy, thus, the Third Republic, which was originally intended as a provisional government, instead became the permanent government of France. The French Constitutional Laws of 1875 defined the composition of the Third Republic and it consisted of a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate to form the legislative branch of government and a president to serve as head of state. The period from the start of World War I to the late 1930s featured sharply polarized politics, Adolphe Thiers called republicanism in the 1870s the form of government that divides France least, however, politics under the Third Republic were sharply polarized. On the left stood Reformist France, heir to the French Revolution, on the right stood conservative France, rooted in the peasantry, the Roman Catholic Church and the army. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 resulted in the defeat of France, after Napoleons capture by the Prussians at the Battle of Sedan, Parisian deputies led by Léon Gambetta established the Government of National Defence as a provisional government on 4 September 1870. The deputies then selected General Louis-Jules Trochu to serve as its president and this first government of the Third Republic ruled during the Siege of Paris. After the French surrender in January 1871, the provisional Government of National Defence disbanded, French territories occupied by Prussia at this time did not participate. The resulting conservative National Assembly elected Adolphe Thiers as head of a provisional government, due to the revolutionary and left-wing political climate that prevailed in the Parisian population, the right-wing government chose the royal palace of Versailles as its headquarters. The new government negotiated a settlement with the newly proclaimed German Empire. To prompt the Prussians to leave France, the government passed a variety of laws, such as the controversial Law of Maturities. The following repression of the communards would have consequences for the labor movement. The Orléanists supported a descendant of King Louis Philippe I, the cousin of Charles X who replaced him as the French monarch in 1830, his grandson Louis-Philippe, Comte de Paris. The Bonapartists were marginalized due to the defeat of Napoléon III and were unable to advance the candidacy of any member of his family, the Bonaparte family. Legitimists and Orléanists came to a compromise, eventually, whereby the childless Comte de Chambord would be recognised as king, consequently, in 1871 the throne was offered to the Comte de Chambord. Chambord believed the monarchy had to eliminate all traces of the Revolution in order to restore the unity between the monarchy and the nation, which the revolution had sundered apart. Compromise on this was if the nation were to be made whole again
5.
Scramble for Africa
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The Scramble for Africa was the invasion, occupation, division, colonization and annexation of African territory by European powers during the period of New Imperialism, between 1881 and 1914. It is also called the Partition of Africa and the Conquest of Africa, in 1870, only 10 percent of Africa was under European control, by 1914 it had increased to 90 percent of the continent, with only Ethiopia, the Dervish state and Liberia still being independent. The Berlin Conference of 1884, which regulated European colonization and trade in Africa, is referred to as the starting point of the scramble for Africa. The latter years of the 19th century saw the transition from informal imperialism, by influence and economic dominance, to direct rule. But Europeans showed comparatively little interest in the interior for some two centuries thereafter, European exploration of the African interior began in earnest at the end of the 18th century. By 1835, Europeans had mapped most of northwestern Africa, in the middle decades of the 19th century, famous European explorers included David Livingstone and H. M. Stanley, each of whom mapped vast areas of Southern Africa and Central Africa. Arduous expeditions in the 1850s and 1860s by Richard Burton, John Speke and James Grant located the central lakes. By the end of the 19th century Europeans had charted the Nile from its source, traced the courses of the Niger, Congo and Zambezi Rivers, and realized the vast resources of Africa. Even as late as the 1870s, European states still controlled only ten percent of the African continent, the most important holdings were Angola and Mozambique, held by Portugal, the Cape Colony, held by the United Kingdom, and Algeria, held by France. By 1914, only Ethiopia and Liberia remained independent of European control, technological advances facilitated European expansion overseas. Industrialisation brought about rapid advancements in transportation and communication, especially in the forms of navigation, railways. Medical advances also played an important role, especially medicines for tropical diseases, the development of quinine, an effective treatment for malaria, made vast expanses of the tropics more accessible for Europeans. Sub-Saharan Africa, one of the last regions of the largely untouched by informal imperialism, was also attractive to Europes ruling elites for economic. In addition, surplus capital was more profitably invested overseas, where cheap materials, limited competition. Additionally, Britain wanted the southern and eastern coasts of Africa for stopover ports on the route to Asia and its empire in India. However, in Africa – excluding the area became the Union of South Africa in 1910 – the amount of capital investment by Europeans was relatively small. Consequently, the involved in tropical African commerce were relatively small. Rhodes had carved out Rhodesia for himself, Léopold II of Belgium later, John A. Hobson argued in Imperialism that this shrinking of continental markets was a key factor of the global New Imperialism period
6.
Mahdist War
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Eighteen years of war resulted in the joint-rule state of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, a condominium of the British Empire and the Kingdom of Egypt. Following the invasion by Muhammad Ali in 1819, Sudan was governed by an Egyptian administration, because of the heavy taxes it imposed and because of the bloody start of the Turkish-Egyptian rule in Sudan, this colonial system was resented by the Sudanese people. Throughout the period of Turco-Egyptian rule, many segments of the Sudanese population suffered extreme hardship because of the system of taxation imposed by the central government. Under this system, a tax was imposed on farmers and small traders. In bad years, and especially during times of drought and famine, fearing the brutal and unjust methods of the Shaiqiyya, many farmers fled their villages in the fertile Nile Valley to the remote areas of Kordofan and Darfur. The jallaba were also known to be slave trading tribes, by the middle 19th century the Ottoman Imperial subject administration in Egypt was in the hands of Khedive Ismail. Thus an ever increasing British role in Egyptian affairs seemed necessary and this commission eventually forced Khedive Ismail to abdicate in favor of his son Tawfiq in 1877, leading to a period of political turmoil. Also in 1873, Ismail had appointed General Charles Chinese Gordon Governor of the Equatorial Provinces of Sudan, for the next three years, General Gordon fought against a native chieftain of Darfur, Al-Zubayr Rahma Mansur. Upon Ismails abdication in 1877, Gordon found himself with dramatically decreased support, exhausted by years of work, he resigned his post in 1880 and left early the next year. His policies were soon abandoned by the new governors, but the anger, another widely reported potential source of frustration was the Turco-Egyptian abolition of the slave trade, one of the main sources of income in Sudan at the time. In the 1870s, a Muslim cleric named Muhammad Ahmad preached renewal of the faith and liberation of the land, soon in open revolt against the Egyptians, Muhammad Ahmad proclaimed himself the Mahdi, the promised redeemer of the Islamic world. In August 1881 the then-governor of the Sudan, Raouf Pasha, the captains of the two companies were each promised promotion if their soldiers were the ones to return the Mahdi to the governor. Both companies disembarked from the steamer that had brought them up the Nile to Aba Island, arriving simultaneously, each force began to fire blindly on the other, allowing the Mahdis scant followers to attack and destroy each force in turn at the Battle of Aba. The Mahdi then began a retreat to Kordofan, where he was at a distance from the seat of government in Khartoum. This movement, couched as a progress, incited many of the Arab tribes to rise in support of the Jihad the Mahdi had declared against the Turkish oppressors. Another Egyptian expedition dispatched from Fashoda was ambushed and slaughtered on the night of 9 December 1881, the Mahdi also legitimized his movement by drawing deliberate parallels to the life of the Prophet Muhammad. He called his followers Ansar, after the people who greeted the Prophet in Medina, and he called his flight from the British, the hijrah, after the Prophets flight from the Quraysh. The Egyptian administration in the Sudan, now thoroughly concerned by the scale of the uprising and this force approached the Mahdist gathering, whose members were poorly clothed, half starving, and armed only with sticks and stones
7.
Anglo-Egyptian War
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The Anglo-Egyptian War occurred in 1882 between Egyptian and Sudanese forces under Ahmed ‘Urabi and the United Kingdom. It ended a nationalist uprising against the Khedive Tewfik Pasha and vastly expanded British influence over the country, in January 1882 the British and French governments sent a Joint Note to the Egyptian government, declaring their recognition of the Khedives authority. On 20 May 1882, British and French warships arrived off the coast of Alexandria, on 11 June 1882, an anti-Christian riot occurred in Alexandria that killed 50 Europeans. Colonel ‘Urabi ordered his forces to put down the riot, but Europeans fled the city, the reasons why the British government sent a fleet of ships to the coast of Alexandria is a point of historical debate, as there is no definitive information available. May I also venture to say that it has given the Liberal Party a new lease of popularity, first, they describe a plot by Edward Malet in which he portrayed the Egyptian government as unstable to his superiors in the cabinet. The British fleet bombarded Alexandria from 11–13 July and then occupied it with marines, the British did not lose a single ship, but much of the city was destroyed by fires caused by explosive shells and by ‘Urabists seeking to ruin the city that the British were taking over. Tewfik Pasha, who had moved his court to Alexandria during the unrest, declared ‘Urabi a rebel, ‘Urabi then reacted by obtaining a fatwa from Al Azhar shaykhs which condemned Tewfik as a traitor to both his country and religion, absolving those who fought against him. ‘Urabi also declared war on the United Kingdom and initiated conscription, the British army tried to reach Cairo through Alexandria but was stopped for five weeks at Kafr El Dawwar. In August, a British army of over 40,000, commanded by Garnet Wolseley and he was authorised to destroy ‘Urabis forces and clear the country of all other rebels. The engineer troops had left England for Egypt in July and August 1882, the engineers included pontoon, railway and telegraph troops. Wolseley saw the campaign as a challenge as he did not believe the Egyptians would put up much resistance. Seeking to ascertain the strength of the Egyptians Kafr El Dawwar position and this action was reported by Orabi as a battle, and Cairo was full of the news that the advancing British had been repulsed. While, most historians describe the action merely as a reconnaissance in force which was never intended as an assault on the Egyptian lines. However, the end result was that the British abandoned any hope they may have had of reaching Cairo from the north, Wolseley arrived at Alexandria on 15 August and immediately began to organize the movement of troops through the Suez Canal to Ismailia. This was quickly accomplished, Ismailia was occupied on 20 August without resistance, Ismailia was quickly reinforced with 9,000 troops, with the engineers put to work repairing the railway line from Suez. A small force was pushed along the Sweet Water Canal to the Kassassin lock arriving on 26 August, the main body of the army started to move up to Kassassin and planning for the battle at Tell El Kebir was undertaken. Skirmishing took place but did not interfere with the build up, on 12 September all was ready and during that night the army marched to battle. 13 September 1882 - Urabi redeployed to defend Cairo against Wolseley and his main force dug in at Tell El Kebir, north of the railway and the Sweet Water Canal, both of which linked Cairo to Ismailia on the canal
8.
Battle of Dogali
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The Battle of Dogali was fought on 26 January 1887 between Italy and Ethiopia in Dogali near Massawa, in present-day Eritrea. The Italians wanted to create their own colonies in Africa and started to occupy coastal Eritrea, soon they were at war with the Ethiopians in 1885. On his own initiative, Ras Alula Engida, then governor under Emperor Yohannes IV, hundreds of his men were slaughtered by cannon and rifle fire, while only four Italians were injured, forcing Ras Alula to pull his men back. The besieged Italians needed ammunitions and requested supplies, on January 26, a battalion of 500 men under Colonel Tommaso De Cristofori, sent to reinforce the Italian garrison at Sahati, were attacked while in march by Ras Alulas men at Dogali. Italians felt that the battle of Dogali was an insult to be avenged and this would later lead to the First Italo-Ethiopian War which ended in their defeat at Adwa. In 1936, they obtained their revenge with the Second Italo-Ethiopian War with a brief occupation only to be defeated by a joint British. Following Eritrean independence, the monument was removed, henze diplomatically notes in a footnote, When I crossed the battlefield in 1996, I could detect no trace of the monument. Observers, including Erlich and others, attribute this to Eritrean Tigrinya views of their own relationship with Ethiopia as a whole. Since Alula fought for the Empire and not for Medri Bahri, he is viewed as a traitor on the Eritrean side of the border, a hero on the Ethiopian side. The huge square in Rome in front of Termini railway station is called Piazza dei Cinquecento, near the square is also a monument to those soldiers. The Italian cruiser Dogali was named for the engagement
9.
Second Franco-Dahomean War
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The French emerged triumphant and incorporated Dahomey into their growing colonial territory of French West Africa. The Fon ceased hostilities with the French after two defeats, withdrawing their forces and signing a treaty conceding to all of Frances demands. However, Dahomey remained a potent force in the area and quickly re-armed with modern weapons in anticipation of a second, after re-arming and regrouping, the Fon returned to raiding the Ouémé Valley, the same valley fought over in the first war with France. Victor Ballot, the French Resident at Porto-Novo, was sent via gunboat upriver to investigate and his ship was attacked and forced to depart with five men wounded in the incident. King Benhanzin rejected complaints by the French, and war was declared immediately by the French, the French entrusted the war effort against Dahomey to Alfred-Amédée Dodds, an octoroon colonel of the Troupes de marine from Senegal. Colonel Dodds arrived with a force of 2,164 men including Foreign Legionnaires, marines, engineers, artillery and these forces were armed with the new Lebel rifles, which would prove decisive in the coming battle. The French protectorate kingdom of Porto-Novo also added some 2,600 porters to aid in the fight, the Fon, prior to the outbreak of the second war, had stockpiled between 4,000 and 6,000 rifles including Mannlicher and Winchester carbines. These were purchased from German merchants via the port of Whydah, King Béhanzin also bought some machine-guns and Krupp cannons, but it is unknown that these were ever put to use. On June 15,1892, the French blockaded Dahomeys coast to prevent any further arms sales, then, on July 4, the first shots of the war were fired from French gunboats with the shelling of several villages along the lower Ouémé Valley. The carefully organized French army began moving inland in mid-August toward their destination of the Dahomey capital of Abomey. The French invasion force assembled at the village of Dogba on September 14, some 50 miles upriver on the border of Dahomey, at around 5 a. m. on September 19, the French force was attacked by the army of Dahomey. The Fon broke off the attack after three to four hours of fighting, characterized by repeated attempts by the Fon for melee combat. Hundreds of Fon were left dead on the field with the French forces suffering only five dead, the French forces moved another 15 miles upriver before turning west in the direction of Abomey. On October 4, the French column was attacked at Poguessa by Fon forces under the command of King Béhanzin himself, the Fon staged several fierce charges over two to three hours that all failed against the 20-inch bayonets of the French. The Dahomey army left the field in defeat losing some 200 soldiers, the French carried the day with only 42 casualties. The Dahomey Amazons were also conspicuous in the battle, after the hard-fought victory at Poguessa, the Fon resorted to guerilla tactics rather than set-piece engagements. It took the French invasion force a month to march the 25 miles between Poguessa and the last major battle at Cana just outside Abomey, the Fon dug foxholes and trenches in their desperate battle to slow the French invasion. On October 6, the French had another encounter with the Fon at the village of Adégon
10.
Anglo-Ashanti wars
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The wars were mainly due to Ashanti attempts to establish strong control over the coastal areas of what is now Ghana. Coastal peoples, such as the Fante and the inhabitants of Accra, in the Ga-Fante War of 1811, the Akwapim captured a British fort at Tantamkweri and a Dutch fort at Apam. In the Ashanti-Akim-Akwapim War of 1814–16 the Ashanti defeated the Akim-Akwapim alliance, local British, Dutch, and Danish authorities all had to come to terms with the Ashanti. The African Company of Merchants was dissolved in 1821 and the British assumed control of the Gold Coast, by the 1820s the British had decided to support one of the other tribes, the Fanti, enemies of the Ashanti. Inland, the Ashanti kings who ruled from the Golden Stool, said to have come from their great god guardian of the Ashanti soul, Nyame, economic and social friction played their part in the causes for the outbreak of violence. The immediate cause of the war happened when a group of Ashanti kidnapped and murdered an African sergeant of the Royal African Corps, a small British group was led into a trap which resulted in 10 killed,39 wounded and a British retreat. The Ashanti tried to negotiate but the British governor, Sir Charles MacCarthy, rejected Ashanti claims to Fanti areas of the coast and this started the First Anglo-Ashanti War which ran until 1831. The British were overrun, suffered losses, and ran out of ammunition, almost all the British force were killed immediately, only around 20 managed to escape. MacCarthy, along with the ensign and his secretary, attempted to back, he was wounded by gunfire, however. Ensign Wetherell was killed whilst trying to defend MacCarthys body and Williams taken prisoner, mcCarthys gold-rimmed skull was later used as a drinking-cup by the Ashanti rulers. On Mr Williamss recovering his senses, he saw the headless trunks of Sir Charles McCarthy, Mr Buckle, and Ensign Wetherell. During his captivity he was lodged under a shed in the same rooms as the heads which. Major Alexander Gordon Laing returned to Britain with news of their fate, the Ashanti swept down to the coast, but disease forced them back. The new governor of the Gold Coast, John Hope Smith, started to gather a new army, mainly comprising natives, including Denkyiras, in August 1826 the governor heard that the Ashanti were planning on attacking Accra. A defensive position was prepared on the open plain 10 miles north of Accra, on 7 August the Ashanti army appeared and attacked the centre of the British line where the best troops were held, which included some Royal Marines, the militia and a battery of Congreve rockets. The battle dissolved into hand-to-hand fighting but the Ashanti force were not doing well on their flanks whilst they looked like winning in the centre. The novelty of the weapons, the explosions, rocket trails, soon they fled leaving thousands of casualties on the field. In 1831, the Pra River was accepted as the border in a treaty, in 1863, a large Ashanti delegation crossed the Pra river pursuing a fugitive, Kwesi Gyana
11.
First Italo-Ethiopian War
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The First Italo-Ethiopian War was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from 1895 to 1896. It originated from a treaty which, the Italians claimed, turned the country into an Italian protectorate. Full-scale war broke out in 1895, with Italian troops having initial success until Ethiopian troops counterattacked Italian positions and besieged the Italian fort of Meqele, forcing its surrender. Italian defeat came about after the Battle of Adwa, where the Ethiopian army dealt the heavily outnumbered Italians a decisive loss and forced their retreat back into Eritrea. This was not the first African victory over Western colonizers, according to one historian, In an age of relentless European expansion, Ethiopia alone had successfully defended its independence. The Khedive of Egypt Ismail Pasha, Ismail the Magnificent had conquered Eritrea as part of his efforts to give Egypt an African empire, Ismail had tried to follow that conquest with Ethiopia, but the Egyptian attempts to conquer that realm ended in humiliating defeat. Egypt had very much in the French sphere of influence until 1882 when Britain occupied Egypt. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 had turned the Horn of Africa into a strategic region as a navy based in the Horn could interdict any shipping going up. By building naval bases on the Red Sea that could intercept British shipping in the Red Sea, the French hoped to reduce the value of the Suez Canal for the British, and thus lever them out of Egypt. On 3 June 1884, a treaty was signed between Britain, Egypt and Ethiopia that allowed the Ethiopians to occupy parts of Eritrea and allowed the Ethiopian goods to pass in and out of Massawa duty-free. After initially encouraging the Emperor Yohannes IV to move into Eritrea to replace the Egyptians, in 1882, Italy had joined the Triple Alliance, allying herself with Austria and Germany against France. On 5 February 1885 Italian troops landed at Massawa to replace the Egyptians, the Italian government for its part was more than happy to embark upon an imperialist policy to distract its people from the failings in post Risorgimento Italy. To compensate, a chauvinist mood was rampant in Italy with the newspaper Il Diritto writing in an editorial, the year 1885 will decide her fate as a great power. It is necessary to feel the responsibility of the new era, to become again strong men afraid of nothing, with the love of the fatherland, of all Italy. On March 25,1889, the Shewa ruler Menelik II, having conquered Tigray and Amhara, Menelik II continued the policy of Tewodros II of integrating Ethiopia. However, the treaty did not say the same thing in Italian and Amharic. Italian diplomats, however, claimed that the original Amharic text included the clause, moreover, Menelik did not know Italian and only signed the Amharic text of the treaty, being assured that there were no differences between the Italian and Amharic texts before he signed. Francesco Crispi, the Italian Prime Minister was an ultra-imperialist who believed the newly unified Italian state required the grandeur of a second Roman empire, Crispi believed that the Horn of Africa was the best place for the Italians to start building the new Roman empire
12.
Second Matabele War
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It pitted the British South Africa Company against the Ndebele people, which led to conflict with the Shona people in the rest of Rhodesia. In March 1896, the Ndebele revolted against the authority of the British South Africa Company in what is now celebrated in Zimbabwe as the First Chimurenga, the Mlimo the Ndebele spiritual leader, is credited with fomenting much of the anger that led to this confrontation. He convinced the Ndebele and the Shona that the settlers were responsible for the drought, locust plagues, the Mlimos call to battle was well-timed. This left the country nearly defenceless, the British immediately sent troops to suppress the Ndebele and the Shona, but it cost the lives of many on both sides. Months passed before the amount of British forces were adequate to break the sieges and defend the major settlements, the Mlimo planned to wait until the night of 29 March, the first full moon, to take Bulawayo by surprise immediately after a ceremony called the Big Dance. He promised, through his priests, that if the Ndebele went to war and his plan was to kill all of the settlers in Bulawayo first, but not to destroy the town itself as it would serve again as the royal kraal for the newly reincarnated King Lobengula. Once the settlers were purged from Bulawayo, the Ndebele and Shona warriors would head out into the countryside, however, several young Ndebele were overly anxious to go to war, and the rebellion started prematurely. On 20 March, Ndebele rebels shot and stabbed a native policeman, over the next few days, other outlying settlers and prospectors were killed. Frederick Selous, the famous hunter, had heard rumours of settlers in the countryside being killed. When news of the murder reached Selous on 23 March. Nearly 2,000 Ndebele warriors began the rebellion in earnest on 24 March, many, although not all, of the young native police quickly deserted and joined the rebels. The Ndebele headed into the countryside armed with a variety of weapons, including, Martini-Henry rifles, Winchester repeaters, Lee-Metfords, assegais, as news of the massive rebellion spread, the Shona joined in the fighting, and the settlers headed towards Bulawayo. Within a week,141 settlers were slain in Matabeleland, another 103 killed in Mashonaland, with few troops to support them, the settlers quickly built a laager of sandbagged wagons in the centre of Bulawayo on their own. Barbed wire was added to Bulawayos defences, oil-soaked fagots were arranged in strategic locations in case of attack at night. Blasting gelatin was secreted in outlying buildings that were beyond the defence perimeter, smashed glass bottles were spread around the front of the wagons. Except for hunting rifles, there were few weapons to be found in Bulawayo, fortunately for settlers, there were a few working artillery pieces and a small assortment of machine guns. Selous raised a troop of forty men to scout southward into the Matobo Hills. Maurice Gifford, along with 40 men, rode east along the Iniza River, whenever settlers were found, they were quickly loaded into their wagons and closely guarded on their way to Bulawayo
France
Beylik of Tunisia
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Media related to French Protectorate of Tunisia at Wikimedia Commons
